The French and German Junior tests for 2023 took place less than two weeks apart with both containing a number of great performances. Given the talent involved and the proximity of the events, it is hard to avoid comparing how the respective athletes stack up against one another.
The purpose of this article is not to say which country is better or which athletes were definitively the best. The goal is simply to mine the information available and see what comes out.
It is important to note that the athletes completed different tests and so it is almost impossible to draw meaningful, direct parallels. However, it is still possible to tease out some comparisons between the two.
As a refresher, the French test was broken down over two days. First, the athletes swam 800m (50m) on the Saturday. On the Sunday morning they ran a 5000m on the track. The test concluded on the Sunday afternoon with a 3.6km time trial on the bike.
By contrast, the German Juniors contested a broken Sprint triathlon. They started by swimming 750m (25m) before having a short break of around 30 minutes. Then they raced a 20km bike into a 5km run.
We can therefore compare the swim and run times to a very limited degree, while taking into account the differing situations. With the different tests, there is a lot of blurry grey area within which to wiggle around.
The Women
At the French Junior tests, the top-3 performers were Ilona Hadhoum, Manon Laporte and Léa Houart.
Hadhoum set a new benchmark as the best French Junior woman on record by swimming 9:28.4 and running 16:48.1. Laporte swam 9:34.9 and ran 17:14.9.
Meanwhile, Houart produced times of 10:06.4 and 17:21.0, respectively, in the two disciplines.
Across the test, Hadhoum, Laporte and Houart were ranked 1st, 2nd and 5th in the swim and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the run.
On the German side, Mirjam Huber clocked the fastest swim with a 9:07. That would put her in approximately 9:45 territory for 800m which would have been slower than Hadhoum and Laporte but around the third fastest of the French Juniors.
Kjara Reckmann finished 2nd at the test and also had the second fastest swim split with 9:12. That would roughly be around 9:50 for 800m and would place her around the top-5 in the French tests.
Huber ran 19:20 for the 5000m while Reckmann ran 19:26.4.
Marielle Bouchti finished 3rd at the German test and recorded times of 9:37 and 18:31.5 for her swim and run.
The top-3 German women therefore ranked 1st, 2nd and 7th fastest in the water (which lines up similarly to the French pattern). On the run, the top-3 German women ranked 6th, 7th and 1st in the run.
An early takeaway, then, is that the best runners came out on top in the French test. On paper this makes sense given the 5000m was the longest discipline of the French test.
By contrast, the leaders of the German were primarily the best swim-bikers.
To delve into the splits a little further, Hadhoum and Laporte were the fastest swimmers across the Franco-German tests, but Huber and Reckmann stack up well.
On the one hand, the German women swam a slightly shorter distance and swam short course. On the other, they had the knowledge of a bigger stage to follow shortly after as opposed to a day later. Moreover most triathletes are not renowned for their fearsome underwaters nor are turns a skill that is emphasised for racing. As such the short course-long course conversion is not as pronounced as it would be in standard swimming terms.
Further down the fields, the French and German results became rather similar in the swim.
As an example, eighth fastest French swimmer, Lucille Merrien logged 10:15.3. For Germany, O’nel Venter was the eighth fastest swimmer and managed a time of 9:39 which loosely converts to about 10:15-10:18 in the 800m.
If we look to the run, the French athletes were comprehensively faster at almost every level. However, they had not ridden 20km just before.
It is almost impossible to compare a flat 5km to one off the bike. Some athletes run better off the bike whereas some really suffer from the transition.
As a result, the focus on this point will be the depth of the fields. The eighth fastest French runner was Léonie Douché in 18:16.3, almost 90 seconds behind Hadhoum’s 16:48.1.
On the German side, Marielle Bouchti led with a 18:31.5. the eighth fastest runner was Nina Kurth. Kurth’s time of 19:29.4 was less than a minute behind Bouchti.
In percentage terms, Kurth was 5% slower than the German run leader whereas Douché was almost 9% slower than Hadhoum.
The conclusion on the run, then, is that the gap to the fastest French times were a little more pronounced and that the German run splits were more concentrated. In part this is a natural consequence of the German test having the run at the end as a race rather than a time trial.
One takeaway could be that Germany did not have a standout female runner in the guise of Hadhoum. Alternatively, the run concentration could point to greater German depth. Going forward, with an array of athletes that bit closer to the leader, there is greater chance of new German faces popping up.
The Men
The leading French trio at the test was comprised by Gaspard Tharreau, Thomas Hansmaennel and Achille Besson.
Tharreau swam 9:09.7 and ran 15:13.1. Hansmaennel recorded times of 9:22.9 and 14:51.1. Last but not least, Besson hit 9:33.3 and 14:54.7 for his swim and run.
That ranked the trio in 3rd, 8th and 13th on the swim and 9th, 5th and 7th on the run. In contrast to the French women, the bike was actually a more important factor in the men’s test.
Meanwhile Jan Pluta, Tim Semmler and Jan Semmler were the top-3 German men. Pluta’s times were 8:50 and 15:27.8 for the swim and run. Tim Semmler mustered performances of 8:55 and 15:34.8 and his brother Jan managed 8:50 and 15:37.0.
Unlike the German women, the run was the decisive aspect in the German men’s test after the bike equalised the results of the swim.
It is therefore interesting to see how the men’s results were essentially a mirror image of women’s. That suggests the skillsets of the athletes are actually a little more important than the specifics of the test.
To compare the raw swim performances of the top-3 men, Pluta and Jan Semmler converted to around 9:25 for the 800. That would put them around eighth place in the French test which is a little behind their ranking in the German test (they were joint-fifth out of the water).
Tim Semmler was the eighth fastest swimmer in the German test but, converted, he would have placed around eleventh in the French test.
When factoring in the fastest swimmers, Paul Delamare led the French rankings with a time of 8:56.6. Meanwhile, Jakob von Muller’s time of 8:22 roughly works out to 8:55 which would put the best French and German swimmers on level footing.
Similarly, in terms of depth on the swim, both countries produced results that matched one another.
If we turn to the run, Pluta, Tim and Jan were ranked 1st, 3rd and 4th in the German run splits. Pluta’s time was not actually that far from Tharreau’s time despite having completed the 20km bike beforehand (although Tharreau has previously run faster than his test result).
Again, though, the raw times do not reveal a lot given the timing of the bike in each test. Instead, we will focus on depth in the results. To this end, let’s look at the gap between the fastest run and the eighth fastest run (which otherwise stands as the mid-pack in the German test).
Milan Lariviere ran 15:05.7 in Cannes which was 25.1 seconds behind the fastest split. That went to Martin Hubner as he logged the fastest run split in the history of the French tests.
Meanwhile, Lasse Rohrbeck ran 16:38.9 in Kienbaum which was 1:11.8 behind Pluta.
From this comparison, we can see that the French men were deeper on the run. Indeed that makes a lot of sense given there were seven French men that powered to sub-15 minute splits.
In the broader picture, the biggest lesson we can take from the respective tests is that the leading German and French men are actually very balanced. Pluta and Tharreau performed in similar realms. So too did Hansmaennel, Besson and the Semmlers.
Should they go head-to-head at the World Junior Championships, it should be a treat to watch.
